Fujifilm’s Acuity stands out at Media Expo

At the Fujifilm stall, the highlight was its Acuity LED 1600 and Acuity EY. “We showcased the best-in-class solutions for wide-format printing at Media Expo 2015,” said Rekha Bhagwat of Fujifilm India. “As more and more print service providers invest in highly capable inkjet printing equipment, differentiation between printers becomes more difficult. Fujifilm’s focus, therefore, was not only to demonstrate the best range of roll-to-roll and flatbed production presses on the market, but also to highlight how other aspects of production can help add value and provide points of differentiation.”

As part of this, the company demonstrated its latest colour control software designed to ensure consistent colour across multiple print processes. In addition, as the original pioneer of UV inkjet ink, Fujifilm also showcased the latest developments in its Uvijet ink range. Finally, the company demonstrated what can be achieved with its new Acuity LED 1600 platform. The exciting line-up of devices, which are all fuelled by Fujifilm’s Uvijet inks, together with the company’s colour control software and newly launched cloud-based web-to-print application, XMF Print Centre, made the Fujifilm stand a priority stop at the show.

According to Bhagwat, over the past few years, the commercial printing industry has been adversely affected by the decreases in overall demand for print. “However, demand for print is increasing in the wide-format graphics segment. As a result, commercial printers have been looking to wide-format as a potential new business opportunity. This year looks better than the last year,” she added.

The Media Expo is an important show for Fujifilm, as it is one of India’s largest shows in the signage industry in terms of exhibitors and visitors, thus providing a good platform to network with the prospective clients.

At the expo, Fujifilm also promoted clean and green printing technology using Fujifilm Sericol UV inks and customised solution for flatbed UV printing with its Acuity EY printer.

“We are observing that there is a growing awareness among print service providers and brand owners to use clean and green printing, as well as out of the box applications,” said Bhagwat. “There has been a rapid progress in accepting the change from solvent and eco-solvent printing towards more green printing in the last six months. We expect this to get further momentum in coming years.”

Bhagwat said the market is growing at 10 to 15% over the last year. The key growth segments are new applications like home interiors, industrial applications, textiles, etc. In this, Fujifilm is consolidating its presence in wide-format printing market. “We have very aggressive plans, starting this year, for the next three years,” she added.

For Fujifilm, the Media Expo was a great show to display its products and services. “It was a good platform for us to meet number of prospective customers, brand managers, corporate, etc,” said Bhagwat, adding, “The market is very large to accommodate many players, including players from China. But, print service providers should be careful in not choosing low quality products as well as products with environmental hazards in their search for low-cost product.”